


A Grave Update

by ShadowCrusade



Series: All Hallows Karma [15]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad times but its okay, no beta im sobbing about everything so i cant even read my own writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27464089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowCrusade/pseuds/ShadowCrusade
Summary: Day 15: GraveyardsQrow and Summer have a talk.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen & Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: All Hallows Karma [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950640
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	A Grave Update

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I know it's Clovember, but dammit I will not abandon Fair Game Spoopy Month. If there's another Clovember next year, I will defintely do it next year. But, I'm just tryna finish spoopy month first.

Qrow never liked the northern part of Patch. He always loathed to see it. The graveyard on the island never looked more tragic. No matter the amount of attempts made to try and ‘liven’ up the old graveyard, it seemed that the land itself didn’t enjoy the idea. No grass ever grew on that part of the island, the trees were dead and not even the birds sang there. It just seemed like a small desolate spot to be buried, as if the land itself had declared that comfort wasn’t a comfort, even in the afterlife. 

It reminded Qrow too much of his time in Anima. Times he would rather not relive. 

It’s also why he enjoyed the small cliff sides in Patch. It had a wonderful view of the rest of the island and it was only a couple of miles from Taiyang’s home. He enjoyed the cliffs, even if the reason for being by the cliffs was for a much more sentimental reason. 

“Hey Summer, how are things on the other side?” Qrow asked as he sat down in front of the small flat headstone close to the edge of the cliff. Sunset covered the island in it’s warm orange and pink colors. It would probably get dark within the hour. He wiped off the flat headstone from any dirt that may have lingered on it. 

“Are things more peaceful over there? Or is it the everlasting party that you imagined it would be?” He asked. He smiled at the memory of Summer telling him about her views on what the afterlife were like.

_ If life is supposed to be a party, then why can’t the afterlife be a party too? _ He shook his head and chuckled at the memory. Summer had been making sure that none of his hair was in his way when she had said that. He was convinced that the shots of tequila he had taken were going to murder him. Too much drinking in their college days combined with Qrow’s insistence of maintaining his former longer hair was a disaster. He remembered the smaller woman had offered to cut his hair after too many instances of Qrow running to the toilet. 

He never went back to the longer hair cut after that. 

“So, Ruby won the Color Run the other day. Although, she probably told you all about that.” Qrow said as he remembered his niece disappeared for a few short hours. “She’s also learning how to make your Apple Pie. She’s definitely starting to take more after you, short stack.” He could almost hear his late best friend protest at the nickname. She claimed she never liked it, but she would get offended if he called her a different nickname. 

“My team won the Cornfield Maze yesterday.” He told her as he held up the new bracelet. “Well, specifically, Yang was one of the people that got to the center, but y’know we were a team.” Qrow had laughed at Yang’s enthusiasm at winning the event. It was rare to win since the chasers had a huge advantage in the game overall. Against all odds though, Yang and Clover were the real winners. 

“I don’t know if Yang’s been by lately, but she’s dating a girl named Blake. She’s quiet, a bit of a booknerd, but she’s good to Yang.” Qrow said proudly. While he and Blake hadn’t talked much outside of their shared interactions with Yang, he knew the girl well enough to know that she cared for his niece. “You would have loved her.” 

A warm breeze came through then. A few loose leaves from the ground flew with the breeze as they passed by in front of Qrow. The red leaves almost looked like red rose petals with how small they were. He let the breeze pass by and he basked in the small wind provided against the cooler weather. 

“Taiyang has been spending more time with friends. Not just the girls, so ‘Operation: Friendship’ was successful.” He chuckled as he remembered how Yang and Ruby had dragged him out of bed to look at their powerpoint presentation. The girls had planned down to every encounter that Taiyang could have with someone in order to get the older man some friends. He remembered that he was still hungover when they explained the plan to him, but he had done his part to help with it. “Although, he’s still protective over the girls, but I guess that’s parenting right?” 

_ And you? What about you Qrow? _ He could almost hear Summer’s soft voice and it took him a second to not call out for her.  _ What have you been up to, Feather Brain? _

“Not much. Just y’know, doing the usual.” He answered the unheard voice. Qrow could almost imagine the glare that Summer would be giving him right now. “Ruby gave me my two month sober chip at the end of September. She wanted to throw a party, but well....y’know me. I wasn’t too thrilled on the idea of one.” He looked at the sky, the dark figures of birds flew overhead. Qrow laid on his back, his head close to the flat tombstone as he settled into the brittle grass beneath him. 

_ What else? _

“So,” He said slowly. “...and don’t get all excited, alright?” He imagined Summer rolling her eyes as she would ask to be told the secret. “I met someone.” Qrow spoke to the wind as it kicked for a small moment. “His name is Clover and I honestly have no idea how it happened.” Another red leaf passed by overhead as he smiled. He began to tell Summer the details of the other man. How they met, the weird misadventures they had gone to, the dates. The kiss. The whole time, as he told Summer, he could almost feel like Summer was laying down next to him, listening to him. 

Just like they used to. 

“He’s really funny, but I can’t tell him that, otherwise I will never live it down.” He spoke to the leaves that blew past him. “He’s got a combination of Yang’s puns and Tai’s dad jokes. He’s horrible, but I like him.” Qrow wouldn’t dare admit to Clover he secretly enjoyed the jokes. The man would no doubt continue with the jokes which would blow Qrow’s cover. “He also seems to know a lot about symbolism from different cultures and he’s terrified of haunted places. He still goes to them though, so I don’t think he’d survive being in a horror movie.” He remembered how terrified Clover was during the bridge. Qrow would never have pictured for Clover to be easily terrified, but the man certainly surprised him. 

“He’s....really good, Summer. Aside from Tai, I didn’t think there were nice guys out there.” Qrow admitted as his body shivered against the cooler weather. “He’s a bit of a brat though, but well... I like brats.” He could almost hear Summer’s obnoxious laughter at the statement. As if to prove a point, the warm breeze returned, his body grateful for the relief against the cold. “I know, you two would have been very good friends.” 

He could only imagine the amount of chaos that would have ensued from their combined friendship. Summer with her prankster attitude combined with Clover’s own mischievous streak could have been world ending. Combine that with their bratty nature, no doubt those two could have taken over the world. In a responsible, have fun on Fridays kind of way. 

“I wish you could have met him.” Qrow said softly as the red leaf that hovered above descended slowly onto his forehead. “I wish you could have seen Ruby win that race or meet Blake. I wish you could have met all those kids.” He thought of Jaune and the others and their antics at the house since meeting them. He even thought of Marrow and Harriet, who were more recently adopted by the group. 

He rubbed away the small tear that formed at the corner of his eye. “I wish you were still here.” 

It was never easy for him to visit Summer. It had been over a decade since she had been taken from them and it still wasn’t any easier. Ruby always visited her with a smile, through the visit and after the visit. Yang would only say a few words before she would leave. Tai would always leave flowers and a touch to the tombstone, the unspoken words being more than enough. 

Qrow though, he always cried at her grave. Out of the four of them, he visited Summer the most and he still always cried. It didn’t matter how much time had passed, it seemed that he would never stop crying for his best friend. He could talk about her easy enough. His endless conversations with Ruby about her mother when she was her age proved that. Coming to the cliff-her cliff- was a different matter entirely. 

Raven had accused him of being too much of a sentimental person. He told her he’d rather have a heart than live without one.

“Dammit.” Qrow muttered as he wiped the tears that flowed fearly from his eyes. He thought about getting up, although he feared that Ruby would see and it would worry her. That was the last thing he needed, Ruby to worry. “Sorry, Summer. Didn’t mean to ruin our little moment.” He didn’t imagine what Summer would have said if she was there. The warm breeze that pressed gently down on his body was enough to tell him to let go.

He must have been laying there in the grass for hours before he heard the crunch of the grass being crushed underneath someone’s foot. Qrow had his arm slung across his face in an attempt to hide his tears. He could feel the chill set in, so no doubt the sun had almost disappeared into the sun. He could still feel some warmth from the sun as he breathed in deeply. The cold air that circulated in his lungs woke the rest of his body. 

“I’m up.” Qrow spoke to whoever approached. “Ruby, if that’s you, do not sit on me again. You damn near killed me last time.” He heard a muffled laughter. A deeper laugh. “Tai?” Qrow asked as he moved his arm out from his face. Green eyes met his gaze, as a familiar brunette approached closer. 

“I’m not that short or that blond.” Clover pointed out as he nudged the side of Qrow’s leg with his foot. “Although, I think this is the part where I ask why you’re laying on the ground.”

“You could ask me...or you could sit down here next to me.” Qrow offered as Clover chuckled. Qrow sent a wink his way before Clover rolled his eyes and sat next to him. The dark haired man sat up as he nuzzled the bare shoulder of the man close to him. “What are you doing here, Lucky Charm?”

“I ran into Taiyang and I asked about you since you weren’t answering your phone.” Clover answered. Qrow padded his jacket pockets for his phone before he remembered that he had left it in his room. He never liked to bring the thing with him when he visited Summer. “He mentioned that you might be out close to the cliffs talking to someone but,” Clover looked around. “I’m not seeing anyone around.” 

“Hard to see, but she’s here.” Qrow muttered as that familiar warmth blew past him. He gestured to the flat gravestone. “I was giving her an update on everything.” Clover scooted closer to the stone to get a closer look to what Qrow had pointed out. Clover’s eyes widened immediately with the realisation of who Qrow had been referring to. “I like to keep her in the loop of things.” 

“So, this is Ruby’s mom?” He asked. Qrow nodded. “I didn’t think she was...” Clover trailed off. 

Qrow shrugged. “It’s been a little over ten years since she died.” The silence grew between them. It was not an uncomfortable silence. Qrow supposed that Clover didn’t know what to say to that. It was a little overdue for condolences, especially since the man didn’t know who Summer was outside of being Taiyang’s late wife and the girls mother.

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.” He asked after a bit. 

Qrow breathed in slowly, and let out a sigh. “It was an accident. Or so the report says.” He said softly. “Summer was a flight medic for the hospital in Vale. She did all sorts of emergency evacs and treatments until they got to the hospital. Which would take a while since a majority of the accidents always took place out in the Emerald Forest. She loved it.” 

“Sounds like she was brave and a good caretaker.” Clover remarked, he had started to pluck some of the fragile grass from the ground. 

Qrow nodded. “She was. She was the best of us.” He let his head rest against the sleeveless man. “There was a storm one day, the winds were just too strong.” He remembered that Ozpin had read him the report. “She was part of the crew that went to attempt a rescue for some family that got caught in a landslide. The crew never made it. And they never found her body.” 

“They didn’t find her?” 

Qrow shook his head. “By the time the storm calmed down enough to look, it took forever to even find pieces of the helicopter. They never found the initial crash. Just a blade here or some shrapnel there. But they didn’t find any of the crew members or any sign of them. The storm, it just....ripped that helicopter apart.” Clover’s fingers started to comb through Qrow’s greying hair. “After months of investigation and searching, the crew was declared dead. So, we had to give Summer a funeral without her body.”

“This is why this is here.” Clover stated. 

“It was Summer’s favorite place to be in all of Patch. She would spend hours out here with the girls. We would have family picnics out here and it was where Summer and I became best friends.”

“A cliff of memories.” Clover sounded distant when he said it. “Forgotten, until visited.” 

“Yeah...” Qrow shivered at the newfound cold that had started to form with the sun’s descent into the horizon. Clover detached himself from Qrow as he moved closer to the headstone. He touched it lightly, in the same way that Taiyang did whenever he visited. He traced the inscription that was written on it before a small little smile graced his lips. 

“Hello, Summer. I’m Clover, it’s nice to meet you.” He said softly as Qrow couldn’t help the smile that formed on his own face. “I may not know you, but I know your daughters. And I don’t know if this means much coming from a stranger but,” Clover paused for a second, as he attempted to find the right words. “I think that you would have been proud of them. For the strength they have and how much joy they spark around them.” Faintly, the warm breeze returned again. Only for a moment. 

Qrow stood up and walked closer to the other man. Clover stood up as his hand reached for Qrow’s. Their fingers entangled together before they both leaned in for a short kiss. Qrow said his goodbyes to Summer as the pair walked away from the cliff’s edge. A strong warm wind shuffled through them as more red leaves shook down from the trees around them. Qrow took in the sight of the sunset once more, before he walked away with the other man. 

Completely unaware of the white hooded figure that watched them from the cliff’s edge. Silver eyes full of warmth, a smile on her face. 


End file.
